Nothing Left But Lies

Marijuana prohibition was born in lies, has been kept alive in lies, and even in its death throes, those people with vested interests in prohibition are still lying.

It’s all they have left. Public support for prohibition is trending seriously down. Even here in Indiana, last fall’s WISH-TV/Ball State University poll found 78% for reforming Marijuana laws, including taxing and regulating like alcohol. 10 years ago you couldn’t pay a politician to stand up for relegalization. Now, they are slowly but surely realizing they are on the wrong side of the issue.

But prohibitionists still hold the mainstream media, though there has been some erosion. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta came to our side. Even National Public Radio, sometimes called National Prohibitionist Radio, has started running accurate and unbiased stories on showing the safety and efficacy of Cannabis for all of its uses. Local media in unfree states like Indiana, however, are still happy to point out Marijuana use, just as the police tell them to.

Just a few days ago, a new “Study” was released and published in the professional Journal of Neuroscience which purported to show that long term, heavy use of Marijuana altered one’s brain cells. There is no replication or peer review of this study, and there were only 20 test subjects. One should never accept a study that isn’t reviewed by conscientious professionals or performing the same test to get the same results. And only sampling 20 people gives you no widespread view of the subject of the study.

Additionally, the study (you can read it here), was financed by the National Institute on Health (NIH), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). ONDCP and NIDA’s charters state they may not support scientific inquiry that might lead to legalization.

Yet media, local and national, have been touting this as gospel. It’s nothing more than, as Louisiana Governor Huey Long stated: “Putting lipstick on a pig.” This study, and others like it, has been false since the War on (Some) Drugs began in 1968. It’s no different than the R.G. Heath study showing that Marijuana use kills brain cells, or the “Reefer Madness” allegations that smoking Pot drives one criminally insane. These lies have been irrefutably discredited. But since the prohibitionists have no argument, they will continue with the same old lies, but dressed up as something new. Just like putting lipstick on a pig: It’s a pretty pig, but still just a pig.

Even if Marijuana did do some minor damage to the brain, is that a justification to continue locking people up and ruining lives over the private use of a plant that is safer than alcohol? There is sound, scientific evidence that alcohol causes many more problems than Marijuana. Yet, alcohol is legal, though tightly controlled. There is no justification for continuing the prohibition of Cannabis.

The ability of prohibitionists like NIDA, private prison consortiums, big pharma and other corrupt and ignorant organizations and individuals to counter the Marijuana Movement’s science-based claim has dribbled to nothing. They can’t use science, because the science opposes them. All they can do is lie. This should be apparent to editors and publishers who wish to accurately report the news in general. So, why is the media still lying to us about Marijuana? I do believe their fear of losing advertising revenue is so coloring their coverage, they can’t be trusted to report truth. There are exceptions, like the Indianapolis publication Nuvo, but they are few and far in between.

I’m waiting for the media to start touting the immorality of Marijuana use. It will be great fun showing their hypocrisy.